McMINNVILLE, Oregon – Three Loggers homered, and Owen Shellhammer won his third consecutive start as the Puget Sound baseball team began its Northwest Conference schedule with two wins at Linfield Saturday.
 
Puget Sound 7, Linfield 1
Shellhammer struck out seven batters in seven innings while allowing just one earned run to improve his record to 3-0.
 
The Loggers (5-4, 3-0 NWC) held a 1-0 lead entering the fourth inning when Cody Hirano belted a two-run homer to cushion the Loggers' lead. That lead doubled in the seventh inning.
 
Clayton Waltz and Kyle Strash opened the frame with consecutive walks, and Jacob Ota crushed a three-run homer over the left-field fence.
 
Shellhammer set the tone early, retiring the first seven Linfield batters in order. Five of those seven batters struck out swinging. Shellhammer didn't allow a hit until the seventh inning.

 
Puget Sound 8, Linfield 6
Shane Himeda collected three hits, and he was one of five Loggers to record multiple hits in the second game of Saturday's doubleheader.
 
Ota got the scoring started with an RBI single in the first inning, but Linfield responded with two runs in the bottom of the stanza.
 
Puget Sound rallied for four runs in the third inning. Hirano led off by getting hit by a pitch, and he promptly stole second base. Strash and Dylan Joyce both drew base on balls to load the bases. A groundout by Makana Murashige plated the first run of the third inning. Strash later scored on an error, and Himeda delivered a two-run single.
 
The Wildcats fought back to tie the game, 6-6, but Gio Parascondola belted the game-winning two-run homer in the eighth inning.
 
Joyce locked down his second save of the season, and Brett Harvey earned the win out of the bullpen.
 
The Loggers and Wildcats play one game Sunday, Feb. 20, starting at 12 p.m.